Ferrari Dino 246 GT

Putting the
engine behind the driver was the winning trend in racing in the early 1960s.
Ferrari experienced the advantages of the design first hand, winning the 1961
Grand Prix champion-ship with the 156 F1, and, two years later fielding the
first midengine car to win LeMans, the 250 P.

So it was
that Sergio Pininfarina and a number of Ferrari dealers began pushing Enzo to
make a midengine road car.

“He kept
insisting it was too dangerous,” the effervescent coachbuilder recalled. “While
he felt it was fine for racing and professional drivers, he was against making
midengine sports cars for customers. He was afraid of the safety, of building a
car that was too dangerous.”

Ferrari
finally relented in 1965. “When Mr. Ferrari finally said yes, he said, ‘Okay,
you make it not with a Ferrari, but with a Dino,’” Pininfarina said. That meant
the car would use a six-cylinder engine instead of one of Ferrari’s
more-powerful V-12s. “In his mind, less powerful meant less danger for the
customers,” Pininfarina explained. “And therefore I had the permission to
develop the Dino.” The name memorialized Enzo’s son, Dino, who had died in
1956.

The 1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS featured a one-piece removable targa top panel.

The Dino
206 S prototype made its debut at the Paris Auto Show in October 1965. It was
built on the 206 SP race-car chassis and had a longitudinally mounted 2.0-liter
V-6. The car was so well-received that a year later, at the Turin Show, a
second Dino 206 S prototype was displayed. Known as the Dino Berlinetta GT, it
also had a longitudinal V-6, but styling was smoother and incorporated
attractive covered headlights.

A final
production prototype was shown at 1967’s Turin Show. It looked almost identical
to the Dino Berlinetta GT, but the engine was mounted transversely, directly
atop the gearbox and differential, between the driver’s compartment and the
rear axle. Fiat in Turin
built the 2.0-liter V-6, which would also be used it in its prestige model, the
front-engine Dino coupe and spyder.

The 206
Dino GT went into production in 1968. It boasted a top speed over 140 mph,
incredibly balanced handling, and a design among the postwar era’s most
beautiful. It was an instant hit with press and public alike.

“The Dino
206 GT is a wonderful car ... an engineering masterpiece,” said America’s Sports Car Graphic. England’s CAR seconded the opinion, noting “(T)he 206GT Dino stands out as
one of the most advanced grand touring cars of our time.”

The 1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS concluded Ferrari's best-selling series up to the time.

Typical of
Ferrari’s almost-constant model updates -- and likely also in response to
Porsche increasing the size of the engine in its 911 -- Maranello followed the
206 GT in 1969 with the Ferrari Dino 246 GT. It looked identical to the 206 save the
addition of a Cavallino rampante on
the fuel-filler door.

That it is
nearly impossible to visually differentiate a Ferrari Dino 246 GT from a 206 is a tribute to
Pininfarina and his men, for the cars had different wheelbases. To increase
cabin room, wheelbase increased to 92.1 inches (2340mm) from 89.7 (2280mm).
Coachwork was more durable steel in place of the 206’s aluminum. And the V-6
jumped to 2.4-liters (hence the 246 name), and horsepower increased by 15 to
195.

The longer
wheelbase and more-powerful engine made a good thing even better. “Of all the
mid-engine cars of which I have had the experience (of testing) the [Ferrari Dino 246 GT] stands
head and shoulders above the rest ... ,” Dennis Jenkinson wrote in Motor Sport. “(O)nce you have
experienced it, it makes all front-engined or rear-engined cars obsolete.”

Minute
updates and refinements created three 246 GT series: type L, type M, and type
E. The 246’s biggest change came with the March 1972 Geneva Auto Show
introduction of the 246 GTS, which featured a one-piece removable targa top
panel.

By
the time assembly of the Ferrari Dino 246 GT and GTS ceased in 1974, production, including
the 206 GT, totaled nearly 4,000. Ferrari’s first midengine road car had become
its best-selling series up to that time.